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uiten gisten gutem' `ffirt- Letters Patent No.`81,123, detect August 18, 1868. i

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR SPLITTING lIINBLING-WOOD.

@the rhthulclnftrret tu iu these dtets Extent mit making part ni the samt.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS, of the city and State of New York, have invented and made a. certain new vand useful Improvement in Machines for Splitting Kindling-Wood; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the said invention, reference being-had to the annexed drawing, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation.

Figure 2 is a vertical section longitudinally of the machine, and

Figure 3 isa plan of the bed and trough fertile wood to be'splt.

Similar marks of reference denote' the same parts. I

My improvement relates to a means for feeding forward to the cutting-knife the blocks of wood that are sawed up of a uniform length, and placed upon a bed or trough, in which they are -sustained in'an upright position while being acted upon by the splitting-knife. I u

The nature of my said invention consists in a pair of feeding-rollersacting upon the ends of the pieces of wood, to move them forwards in a trough at the time when the splitting-knives, are raised above the wood, thereby causing the feed and theknives to alternate Ain their action; and, in combination with said feed-rollers and splitting-knives, I make use of steadying-bars that hold up the pieces of wood as they are split, but yield to the 'wood as that is` spread by the entering of the knives.

In the drawing, a is a bed, upon which are side-pieces, b b, forming a trough, in which the wood isset up endwise, and moved forward by the attendant to the pair of feeding-rollers hereafter described.

Upon the bed a'are the standards d cl, sustaining the shaft c, and forming.the slides for the stock e of the splitting-knives that converge and stand at an angle to the feeding-trough, as in Letters Patent granted to me, April 14, 1857, and reissued, December 19, 1865. l

' The knivesf and stock e are'reciprocated by theconnectingwod g and crank r and the slotted bed lc and rollers Z, as in Letters Patent granted Yto me, December 412, 1865.v

I employ the pair of feedingrollers m at, set so that the roller Infis Anearly ilus'n at its upper side with the bed a, and the roller m is 'in bearings that are set to slide in the standards o, and are acted upon by springs, so as to cause therollers to gripe and feed along the pieces' of wood that are presented to them by the attendant, wh'o packs them together within the trough, and keeps sliding the-mass along to the rollers. This roller m is adjustable, to suit varying lengths Vof wood. i I

The rollers m/neregeared together by the wheels-p, and on' the shaft of one roller (I have shown it on the shaft of th'e'roller n) is a. ratchet-wheel, g, the teeth of which are of a size adapted to giving the necessary feed by a pawl, r, upon a lever, s, that moves upon the shaft as its'fulcrum, and receives motion from the connecting-.rod 't to a crank-pin, u, on the shaft e, and the connection of t and s may be by a slot and screw, so as to vary the amount of movement given to the` pawl r,'and hence thc amount offecd to the Wood each reciprocation of the knife. Y A

A stop or spring-pawl is provided at o to the wheel q, and in order to stop the feed, if it becomes necessary at any time, I employ the segment r on an arm, o', that is operated by the lever o', and, whenglifted, acts upon a pin that projects from the side of the pawl r, and raises the same outI of contact with the teeth of the wheel g.

.As the wood is split by the knivesf, it is apt to occupymore space thanl previous Vto being split. I therefore form the trough wider at the portion that is beyond the rollers m 1 2, and apply the springgsteadying bars n that act to hold up the woo-d and prevent its falling over, but yield suiiciently to allow for the increased space occupied after it has been split. v

The rollers m n might bc tlutcd, or formed with a roughened surface, to incr'caseftheinhiold upon the wood, and, if desired, a second pair of feeding-rollers may .be employed to move the wood along inthe trough.

What I claim, 'and desire tofsecure lby Letters Patent, is

1. A pair of feeding-rollers, m u, moved progressivelywhen the splittingfk'nives are out .of the wood, in combination wth'the saidgsplittingknives, and trough in which the wood is moved along by said rollers, and supported while being split, substantially as specified.

2. The spring-steadyingbars n', in combination with the feed-rollers m mand splitting-knivesf, as and for the purposes speciled.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my signature, this 14th day of April, 1868.

" w. L. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

GEO. D. WALKsu, Guss. H. SMITH. 

